The present invention relates to a new and improved installation for the automatic removal and reception of loads through the intermediary of transport vehicles, in which by means of the movement of a transport vehicle displaced relatively to a reception station, a load transportable in a horizontal plane by the transport vehicle can be removed from the transport vehicle and be placed on the reception station and/or vice-versa.
In installations of such type the movement of the transporting vehicle solely determines the removal of the load from the vehicle and its deposition at a reception station or vice versa. This has the advantage of reducing the risk that a displacement in the longitudinal direction may be produced between the transported load and the transport vehicle during the above-mentioned operations.
One known installation of this type, more precisely intended for the automatic reception of pallets from transport wagons, on two parallel roller paths disposed stationarily at a reception station, is illustrated in published German patent application No. 1 943 854. In this installation, each transport wagon is equipped with vertical supports, on which the load may be placed in such a way that it can be raised. By means of the access ramp of a stationary platform disposed at the reception station along the path of the wagon, the transport wagon is raised until the load which it carries is situated above the two roller tracks. During the descending movement of the wagon as it leaves the platform the load is released and comes to rest upon the rollers of the two roller tracks.
Due to the fact that the transport vehicle and the transported load have to be raised together each time by the ramp of the platform, such an installation is not very well adapted for the removal and reception of heavy loads. Another disadvantage lies in the fact that the platform, for which a horizontal reception portion and two inclined portions respectively for access and departure are necessary, appreciably increases the length of the installation, the more so when the loads transported are of great length. Finally, this type of installation would scarcely be suitable if the operations were to be reversed, that is if the load had to be removed from the roller tracks and be deposited upon the transport wagon. In this case, it is the transport wagon which, during an ascending movement, would have to entrain with it the horizontally disposed load. Such an operation could only be carried out with the aid of appropriate entraining elements, and the load would have to be placed on each occasion upon the transport tracks with great precision relative to the platform.
In another installation, shown in British Pat. No. 249 685, loads to be transferred from a transport vehicle to a reception station have to be carried by the intermediary of an auxiliary vehicle itself disposed upon the transport vehicle. During the displacement of the transport vehicle relative to the reception station, the wheels of the auxiliary vehicle engage upon the inclined ends of rails provided at the reception station and upon which the auxiliary vehicle and the loads which it carries can be placed.
Apart from the fact that it neccessitates the use of an auxiliary vehicle this installation demands that the transport vehicle shall be equipped with retaining elements capable of being automatically engaged or disengaged according to whether the auxiliary vehicle is to be entrained by the transport vehicle or released.